After pushing my food around with my chopsticks for a while to make it look like I was actually eating, I threw the contents of my box into the garbage can and headed for the bathroom to take a shower. For some reason I felt really dirty after talking with the guy from the shop, and reading his note gave me an unnerving feeling that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I let the hot water run over my skin for a good while, only to be yelled at by Kris a half an hour later for taking too long.

As I dry myself off, my thoughts turn even more sour as I think about Baozi and myself. I still couldn’t put my finger on why he could be mad at me, and it was really starting to bother me. Taking soft steps to Kris, Minseok, and my room, I can hear low whispering from behind the door. I stop just outside, and place myself next to it to hear what the occupants inside were talking about.

“Min, are you absolutely positive that this isn’t some sick joke?” Chen asks softly.

I hear a light scoff come from Xiumin before he angrily responds. “Joke or not Jongdae, this isn’t even close to being funny!”

Moving forward as their voices drop lower, I hold my breath as the floor creaks beneath me. The sound goes unnoticed by the two inside and I clutch my rapidly beating heart in an attempt to calm it.

“The fact that he has the audacity to record something so, so…” Struggling for the right word, Minseok pauses for a moment. “How would you feel if you were in my situation?”

Another long pause follows before Jongdae sighs loudly. “I would be furious.”

“Exact-”

“But,” quickly cutting him off, Chen finishes his thought. “But you need to confront Luhan about it and get all the details from him, Minnie. It could be some prank by a crazy fan or something, you know how they are.”

A grumpy sigh leaves Minseok and I stand confused in the hallway, looking like an idiot, until I hear footsteps approaching the door. Jumping backwards, I make it look as though I was about to knock just as Baozi is opening the door. The look of shock turns to sadness and in less than a second turns into an emotionless, yet harsh, glare.

“I can’t right now.” He says to Chen, who stands a few feet behind him.  He moves past me, but not before bumping my shoulder on the way.

Glancing to Jongdae, I shoot him a desperate look, but it goes unnoticed as he too walks around me, shaking his head as he goes. Disgust etched on his face? No. Actually, it was a definite yes, but why? My shoulders drop and I move towards the living room where most everyone had gathered, excluding Tao, Kris, and the manager, they were probably getting some late night snack while talking about tomorrow’s schedule.

Entering the room, I could see, sprawled out on the sofa with a pout on his face, Xiumin glaring at the blank TV as if it would solve all his problems. He could see me in the reflection of the black glass as I came in, and turned away from the television in repulsion. Quietly I plop onto the couch adjacent to the one Baozi sits on. As an uncomfortable silence hovers over the four of us, I opt to pull at a hangnail awkwardly.

Flashing through my mind were thousands of reasons the older could be mad at me, but none made any sense whatsoever. What had happened in those short two hours that made him hate me so much? Kris said something about a video, but he said it looked like an interview or some sort. What could Minseok and Chen be talking about it being aggravating.

Heaving a sigh, Minseok stands up, breaking me from my thoughts. Motioning to the couch he had just been sitting on, he quickly announces, “I’m going to sleep out here tonight.”

I immediately realize the reasoning behind his decision was to not have to sleep in the same room as me, or to even spend a moment longer than necessary with me. But, remembering how sore I had been the day I slept on the sofa on accident I raise my head. After worriedly thinking for only a mere second I form a decision and the words flow from my mouth easily and I don’t really regret them.

“I was going to play some video games for a little bit.”

He groans lowly with his back to me, already attempting to flee and get his bedding. Turning back, he asks bitterly, “What, so you’re going to sleep out here?”

“Yeah, I probably will.” I reply nonchalantly with a shrug.

“That’s fine with me then.”

With that, the older boy leaves hastily and slams our bedroom door shut behind him. I glance to Lay and Chen who sit on the other sofa and I flash a smile.

“You guys should probably go to bed too.” I try to say in an upbeat tone. “We have a pretty big schedule tomorrow, don’t we?”

They nod and rise to go to their own room. When Jongdae passes he whispers something, but I don’t catch it. As Lay leaves he pats me on the shoulder in knowing sadness and I feel myself slump into the back cushions in a new formed exhaustion as I’m left to myself.

In actuality, I had no intention whatsoever to play video games; I just didn’t want Minseok to be sore in the morning. He was already mad and being in pain was the last thing I wanted for him. Even if he did hate me for some unknown reason I want him well rested and comfortable with no extra stress added, especially if that stress was caused by me.

Obviously, I had done something wrong. Both Minseok and Jongdae knew what, but getting it out of one of them seemed highly unlikely right now. If I could just see whatever recording the two had been talking about maybe I could understand how deep in I really was.

I groan and stand up from my comfortable seat and move soundlessly to the larger sofa. I sit down gingerly and my head drops onto the back of the couch without my permission. I leave it there and stare tiredly at the ceiling anyways. My heavy eyelids begin to droop dangerously, and as I fall asleep only thoughts of my Baozi fill my head. None all too happy.

When I open my eyes, I find myself staring at the ceiling. Slowly pushing myself forward, I place my elbows on top of my knees in an attempt to stretch out my back. The annoying feeling of almost being able to work out that one kink leaves me to only sigh in defeat. Looking around the dark dorm I grab my cellphone from my sweatshirt pocket and glance at the time.

“Why do I have to wake up at the weirdest hours?” I ask the empty room while staring spitefully at the bright 2:41 that mocks me on the screen.

I rise from the couch as the sound of my stomach growling spurs me to travel to the kitchen, not eating anything sense this morning was really seemed to be taking a toll. Making myself a very boring sandwich and putting the condiments back in their rightful places, I walk back into the living room singing in a soft tone.

“The beauty of that day’s luck, to suddenly be graced with happiness, lucky, among billions of people I still met you. I can call your name. I can sincerely hold your hand…?”

Going past the hallway that leads to the member’s bedrooms I notice a light on that shouldn’t be, and curiosity gets the better of me. Tiptoeing to the doorway that remains ajar, I look through the gap at the room’s occupants.

Inside I can see Lay sitting on his bed with a blanket wrapped over his shoulders, but he isn’t asleep, far from it. With his mouth hanging open, he stares across the room with a shocked and empty look covering his face. I can hear Jongdae’s voice trying to remain a whisper and I feel my stomach do a flip as a new voice speaks up.

“You guys, I really don’t know what to do.” Minseok mumbles softly.

I can hear Chen sigh before answering just as quietly, “Min, I already told you a thousand times. You need to talk to Luhan and find out what’s really going on.”

Lay nods slowly in agreement to the advice. Shifting so that he is leaning against the wall, but still comfortably facing the other two in the room, Yixing’s gaze moves to the doorway and his eyes lock mine. I know I should leave or beg him to not tell about me eavesdropping or just do anything, but I remain frozen instead.

 As if he hadn’t seen me at all, the Chinese boy turns away.

“I don’t really think I understand,” Lay says furrowing his brow.

Instantly, I knew what he was doing. He obviously had seen me, and he did understand, but that unicorn was getting the information for me so that I would know about whatever was going on and why my Baozi was so mad at me. Sometimes I love that oaf and the way he thinks.

“How do you not understand Yixing?” Minseok asks while raising his voice dangerously. “I’m pretty sure we all just watched the same video, if I’m not mistaken. Was it really that hard to comprehend what was going on?”

Lay frowns before explaining himself. “Well no, but I don’t think Luhan would do that, especially not to you Xiumin. He loves you too much to even think about doing something so scandalous.

“What is wrong with you?” I hear the bun yell angrily, completely forgetting about keeping his voice down. “You just watched a video of some guy telling Luhan that he still loved him and he even did that nasty stuff, you still think he wouldn’t do something like go behind my back and date someone else? It was the guy from that place for god’s sake!”

I feel like time and space stop around me as the words echo inside my head. That creeper guy? How would he ‘still’ like me when I had never even met him before? I begin to wonder what nasty things Baozi was talking about, and images start to flood my mind and I can feel the few meager bites of my sandwich coming back up my throat. Rushing to the garbage can in the kitchen, I throw the lid open and empty my stomach into it.

As I continue to heave up the bile, I can hear thundering footsteps running into the room.

“Oh god!” Chen mumbles worriedly. “Luhan, are you alright?”

Seeing in how I was hunched over puking my guts out, I wanted to inform him that, no, I wasn’t alright, but the thought of that guy and me makes my mouth clamp shut. Even when I close my eyes to try and will the awful thoughts away, it seems that they only become more vivid. Nearly throwing myself into the bin, I let whatever wants to come up do just that.

When I finally feel like I’ve finished being disgusting, I push myself away from the reeking garbage can. I feel light headed by the small movement, and my knees buckle underneath me. Before I actually fall to the ground, an arm wraps itself around my waist to keep me steady.

“Hey, you okay?” A deep voice questions me.

Opening my eyes that had shut when preparing for my contact with the floor, I see Kris holding me up. Wait, when did he get here? Glancing around for the first time, I see everyone standing around me with a concerned look on their face.

I try and give a small nod to reassure everyone, because my throat felt like sandpaper, but after only the tilting up of my head, the lightheadedness reminds me I probably shouldn’t even attempt the action.

“Let’s lay him down.” I hear our manager suggest.

Tao walks to the other side of me and drapes my arm over his shoulder, as does Kris, and the two of them practically carry me away from the mess I had made. For a moment I thought they were going to drag me into the living room, but then they turn towards my bedroom. I clench a fist into Yifan’s shirt and he stops.

“Bring me to the living room.” I plead the two of them desperately. “It’s closer.”

They nod in understanding and once again begin to move. It wasn’t so much that I felt like I was going to be sick again, even if I was still haunted by the thought of my little brother and I getting it on, but if I slept comfortably tonight, Minseok wouldn’t.

Speaking of the little bun, he wasn’t anywhere in sight. He had probably left when he knew I wasn’t going to die. I couldn’t blame him for hating me about such a rumor, I just wish he would have come and confronted me about it first.

Slowly the panda lowers me onto the couch. I automatically feel myself being pushed down to where I was lying on my back and a second later I feel a soft hand lift the back of my head and a soft pillow finds its way underneath me.

When I glance around to find the owner of the hand, Xiumin stares back at me with an expressionless look covering his face. He places a blanket over me, most likely from my own bed, and cautiously takes a few steps away from me. I grimace at the action and break the awkward eye contact a second later.

“Luhan are you alright now?” Manager asks warily. “Should we bring you to the hospital?”

I shake my head with a small smile before throwing out a quick lie. “I think it was just something I ate.”

“Maybe from the restaurant? Are you sure you’re okay?” Chen interrogates.

Nodding, I reassure them.

“Alright guys, if he says he’s fine, then we have to go by his word.” Manager says as he offers me a small smile. “We have a schedule early tomorrow, so we should all head off to bed.”

The other members nod in halfhearted agreement.

One by one they all leave the living room to return to their respective rooms. Lagging behind them all, Minseok lingers close to the exit and it’s obvious that something was on the tip of his tongue. Sighing in defeat, he leaves without a second glance.

I raise my hand to my temple to try and calm the intense, pulsating headache that had started, but to no avail. The living room light which had been shut off when the manager had left, flickers on and momentarily blinds me. Squinting to see the face of the newcomer a small sorry leaves his lips and the person turns the light back off.

I stare at the black figure that moves across the room, still confused about the identity. Hearing the shuffling of feet move around, I watch the figure trip and a small string of curses in Mandarin leaves the person’s lips.

“Yixing, what are you doing?” I ask with a growing smile.

“Well I didn’t want you getting sick again so I was trying to be as little of a disturbance as I could.” Lay says while sitting in the arm chair a short distance from me.

I roll my eyes instinctively. “No, I meant what are you doing out here.”

“Oh!” he exclaims almost too loudly. “I wanted to talk to you.”

He flips on the side lap near him and I wait expectantly for him to continue, but he looks skeptical. It takes him a minute before he actually speaks, but when he does, that churning feeling once again fills my stomach.

“You aren’t cheating on Minseok, are you?”

“No!” I half yell. “Where did you guys even come up with that?”

“Well…” Lay mumbles halfheartedly. “There was a video of this guy telling you that he would be waiting at your guys’ special spot in a few days, and he even was doing some… things, that were really inappropriate.”

“I can assure you, Yixing, I am not dating anybody but Baozi.” I whisper lowly, but it comes out more as a hiss. “Oh, and dear god, please let’s not talk about the video, I’m going to throw up again.

He nods in understanding, mumbling a small sorry. After a minute of silence, a light illuminates the room fully and Manager comes out with a stern look on his face. Yixing jumps up quickly and flashes the older man a sheepish smile.

“I was just getting Luhan some water for his throat!” Lay assures while ing a bottle of water I hadn’t seen earlier into my hands.

“Yeah, uh huh,” he looks uninterestedly at Yixing, but the hard look he was giving soon dissolves at the innocent look the unicorn was giving him. “Just get to bed.”

Smiling cutely, Lay nods as the Manager goes back to his room. Turning serious once again, he looks at me and frowns in distress.

 “Talk to him Lu.” He orders, sympathetically. “Minseok thinks you cheated on him because he isn’t good enough. You know how he thinks about himself. He comes up with the stupidest reasons for things so that he can hate himself.”

I feel myself nodding, knowing exactly what he was talking about. Bidding me a farewell, Lay turns the light off and goes back to his and Chen’s shared bedroom to finally turn in. I lie there for a good while just thinking about Minseok, but eventually my thoughts cut off and I fall into a stressful slumber.

So, this is just basically copy and paste from the original chapters. :) Hope you enjoy nonetheless!